Molded chair construction



July 25, 1961 J. P. PINKHAM MOLDED CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Filed July 15,1959 m w W m JACKSON P. PINKHAM By I I 6.

2,913,733 MOLDED CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Jackson P. Pinkham, Vancouver,British Columbia, Canada (42 Sanchey St, San Francisco, Calif.) FiledJuly 13, 1959, Ser. No. 826,716 9 Claims. (Cl. 217-445) This inventionrelates to a chair, and in particular to a molded chair fabricated fromplastic or other suitable pliable material.

An object of the invention is to provide a comfortable and durable chairwhich is of pleasing appearance, rela tively inexpensive, and easilymanufactured.

Another object of the invention is to provide a chair which utilizes thenatural spring and resilience of the material from which it isfabricated, thereby obviating the need of any auxiliary cushioning orsuspension means.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a chair the shape ofwhich automatically adjusts itself to provide seating spaceproportionate to the shape and weight of the person sitting therein.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a chair inwhich the body and leg portions may be formed as separate units whichare easily assembled and dismantled to facilitate nesting for shippingor storage of the chairs.

The chair according to this invention is fabricated in its entirety bymolding it from a plastic material or from any other suitable pliablematerial such as metal or wood. In the preferred construction, the chairis made from a suitable plastic material such as polyester, polyethyleneor a phenol resin with or without a filler or fibrous strengtheningmaterial incorporated therein. The different components of the chair maybe made from the same or different materials and a multi-tone efiect maybe obtained by making the different components of different colouredmaterials. The manner in which the chair is molded forms no part of thepresent invention and any of the well-known techniques in the art may beemployed.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of the chair,

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the chair, and

FIGURE 3 is a transverse sectional view through the chair on the line 33of FIGURE 1.

Referring to the drawings, the body of the chair comprises a backportion 12 having a forwardly extending outer projection 14 and anothergenerally forwardly extending central projection 16 which is adapted tobe attached to a leg construction 18 arranged to stand upon the floor.

The back portion 12 may be of any suitable shape, but in the embodimentshown, is slightly curved to form a dished shell and is provided with anaperture 20 which increases the flexibility of the back enabling thechair to conform substantially with the shape of a person sittingtherein.

The outer projection 14 may, as shown, be in the form of a continuousloop or alternatively it may comprise a pair of forwardly projectingtongues or side portions converging towards the front centre of thechair to form a loop member.

The central projection 16 of the back is formed with a downwardly facingrecessed portion 22 adapted to receive snugly therein the upper junctionsection of the leg con struction 18. The leg construction 18 may beformed by molding the legs as individual units, in units of two or in afull unit of four. Preferably however, the legs are formed in units oftwo, 26 and 27 and 28 and 29 respectively and the upper junctionsections 30" and 31 of the two units are shaped so that junction section30 fits snugly Patented July 25, 1961 ice into junction section 31 orvice versa. Each leg is of open channel shape having a flared upper endand a gradually diminishing cross section tapering down to a relativelysmall pad 32. The shape of the legs is such that they form naturaldiminishing extensions of the converging lines from the back portion 12and the projections 14 and 16- thereof. Under load, the legs being ofdownward facing open channel construction, respond with spring andincreased strength as they tend to open out to assume a more edge-onposition. Since the legs are preferably of all-plastic construction, nofloor guards or tips are required since the foot pads 32 will not damagefloors or rugs.

The leg construction 18 may be attached to the body of the chair 10 asby molding, by means of a suitable adhesive or as in the embodimentshown, the leg units may be locked to the downwardly projectingextension 16 of the back portion 12 by means of a bolt 34 which passesdownwardly through the recessed portion 22 and the junction portions 30and 31 of the two leg units 26 and 27 and 28 and 29 respectively and issecured in position by anut 36. The simple manner in which the leg andbody units are locked together enables the chair to be quickly assembledor broken down into units which can easily be shipped with correspondingunits of a number of chairs snugly inter-fitting, thereby materiallyreducing the shipping space required.

The seat. 38 may be formed integrally with the body of the chair 10 ormay, as shown, be formed as a separate unit. The seat 38 is attached tothe body portion at the juxta-position of the outer front centre of theouter projection 14 of the back portion 12 and the front centre of theseat. The seat is preferably formed on one side thereof with a tongue40, projecting downwardly therefrom, this tongue being rigidly securedto the front centre of projection 14 by means of an adhesive or in anyother suitable manner. The seat 38 is thus suspended from the outerprojection 14 in cantilever fashion and extends rearwardly towards theback 12 of the chair within the outer projection 14 to form a leaf-likeseat having its only connection with the rest of the chair by way of theforward extension 14. With this seat suspension arrangement, any stressset up incident upon loading the seat is distributed throughout the body10 of the chair and the leg construction 18 to provide a chair whichautomatically adjusts itself at all times in accordance with the weightand shape of the person sitting therein and which requires no auxiliarymechanical cushioning or suspension means to take the stress imposedthereon. This cantilever-type seat suspension provides a seat havingspring downwardly, backwar-dly and sideways enabling it to be at alltimes adjusted to the weight and shape of the sitter. The downwardmovement of the seat is limited by its engagement with the upper surfaceof recess 22 or, if the bolt 34 is not countersunk, with the head of thebolt.

it will be noted that with the chair construction according to thisinvention, a more generous seating space is offered in exact ratio tothe weight and shape of a person sitting therein. The downward pryingaction of the seat 38 on the outer projection 14 of the back 12 tends topry the outer projection 14 to a more open condition, consequentlyopening the back of the chair of which the outer projection 14 forms anintegral part. This prying action also tends to set all the planes ofthe various parts of the chair to a more edge-on position withconsequent increase in strength. The design of the chair thus fullyutilizes the natural spring nad resiliency inherent in the material fromwhich it is fabricated.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A chair construction comprising a molded integral body having avertically extending back portion, a loop member extending forwardlyfrom the back portion and a central portion connected to the loop memberfor connecting the same to a relatively rigid leg construction adaptedto stand upon the floor, and a seat securely attached to and supportedsolely by the forward portion of said loop member, said seat extendingrearwardly towards the back.

2. A chair construction as claimed in claim 1 wherein said legconstruction comprises two units, each unit consisting of a pair ofintegrally formed legs, the upper portions of the two units snuglyinterfitting and adapted to be received into a downwardly facing recessformed in said central portion.

3. A chair construction as claimed in claim 2 wherein the legs are ofdownward facing open channel construction adapted to open out under loadto assume a more edge-on position.

4. A chair construction comprising a molded integral body having avertically extending back portion, a loop member integrally formed withsaid back portion and projecting forwardly therefrom and a centralportion connected to the loop member for connecting the same to arelatively rigid leg construction adapted to stand upon the floor, and aseat securely attached at the juxtaposition of the front centre of saidloop and one edge of said seat, the seat extending rearwardly towardsthe back portion and being suspended cantilever fashion by means of itsconnection to said loop member.

5. A chair construction as claimed in claim 4 wherein .said centralportion is provided with a downwardly facing recess shaped to receivethe upper end of said leg construction snugly therein.

6. In an article of furniture, a molded shell-like body having avertically extending back portion, a loop portion extending forwardlyfrom said back portion and a generally forwardly projecting centralportion connected to the loop portion, a seat secured to said loopportion adjacent the juxtaposition of the outer front centre of saidloop and the front centre of the seat, said seat extending rearwardlyfrom said loop towards said back portion, and a leg construction securedto said central portion.

7. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 6 wherein said legconstruction comprises two units each consisting of a pair of integrallyformed channel shaped legs, the upper ends of said units snuglyinterfitting and shaped to be received into a recess formed in saidcentral portion.

8. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 7 wherein said seat issubstantially planar and is attached at one side to the centre sectionof said forwardly projecting loop portion by means of a tongueintegrally connected to said one side.

9. An article of furniture as claimed in claim 7 wherein the legconstruction is secured to the body by means of a bolt passingdownwardly through said downwardly facing recess and the upper portionsof the two snugly interfitted leg units.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,588,417 Schladerrnundt et al. Mar. 11, 1952 2,703,135 Leatherman Mar.1, 1955 2,815,801 Fingerhut et a1 Dec. 10, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 476,320Great Britain Dec. 6, 1937

